E-commerce is all about understanding the trends you need to know.

In the future, all e-commerce will become agent-based e-commerce!
Ten years ago was shelf-based e-commerce, where users searched by keywords;
In the past few years, it has been interest-based e-commerce—users scroll short videos, watch livestreams, and place orders;
In the future, users will simply tell AI:
I want to attend what kind of occasion, what’s my budget, what style I like, and what matters most.
AI will help him filter products, compare prices, judge whether they’re a good fit, and even complete the checkout directly.
I don’t fully agree with the idea that “most apps will disappear in the next 5 years.”
But one trend is very clear:
Shopping is shifting from operating pages to expressing needs.
This will have a huge impact on merchants.
In the past, everyone optimized for:
Whether the main image is compelling enough;
Whether the livestream scripts are stimulating enough;
Whether influencer videos can create impulse buying;
Whether display ads can generate clicks.
These things were mainly made to be shown to humans.
But when AI starts filtering products for users, merchants have to answer a new question:
After AI compares dozens of similar products, why should it recommend yours?
In the future, the focus of product competition may gradually shift to:
Whether specifications are complete, and whether it’s structured;
Whether ingredients, materials, and quality standards can be verified;
Whether pricing, delivery, and after-sales support are clear;
Whether user reviews are real;
Whether the supply chain and fulfillment capabilities are stable;
Whether there are reviews, reports, and a track record of long-term reputation as evidence.
In short:
In the past, it was about figuring out how to make consumers believe you;
In the future, you’ll need to give AI enough evidence to recommend you.
AI will also bring another layer of change to the merchant side.
A large amount of operations work—market analysis, competitor research, product sampling, product copywriting, posters, customer service, and more—will gradually be taken over by platform agents.
This means the operational threshold for small and medium-sized merchants will decrease, but tool advantages will also become harder to maintain long-term.
What you build over a year, the platform may finish with just one new feature.
So there’s no need to be overly anxious every time a new model or new workflow appears each week.
What you really should be building is:
Product quality;
Supply chain capabilities;
Structured product data;
Real user feedback;
Brand trust;
Industry experience that AI can’t fake for you.
AI will gradually make operational ability more equal, but it won’t make good products and mediocre products become the same.
In the era of agent-based e-commerce, the most valuable thing may no longer be who can best manufacture emotions, but who has a product that holds up to comparison, verification, and long-term use.